Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-07-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Battle of Marathon initiative

[01] Battle of Marathon initiative

The committee is called 'International Committee for the 25th Century Anniversary of the Battle of Marathon and Marathon Run', or IMC-25C, and is planning a series of events to promote the significance of this historic battle and the Marathon race.

The first order of business will be to issue a book in Greek and English on the international significance of the Battle of Marathon and the Marathon run, due to be published in April. The group is also looking for producers to fund the filming of a documentary for international release and making attempts to organise the world's biggest-ever Marathon Race in Athens in the year 2010, as well as a 'Music Marathon' and an international conference on the celebrated battle.

One of the main supporters of the initiative in its first stages was the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), while there was also plentiful support from foreign correspondents, journalists, historians, military experts, pacifists, athletes and academics, among others.

During the SAE presidency's recent meeting in Athens, the expatriate group unanimously voted in favour of the "Marathon Plan" and said it was a unique opportunity in our era to exercise international cultural diplomacy for the next decade.

The aim of the IMC-25C is to mobilise Greek and international public opinion and encourage people to organise major cultural, artistic and athletic events to highlight the major significance of that historic battle against the Persian Empire by Greeks defending their homeland. This has been widely accepted by historians as a crucial turning point in world history, since it saved Athens and the start of the world's first real democracy in its infancy, which served as a model for the later development of Western civilisation.

The battle also gave birth to one of the foremost athletic events of the modern world, the Marathon Race, which is based on the distance run by the ancient messenger that ran from the battlefield in Marathon to Athens to carry the news of victory and then died of exhaustion.

The war between the Persian Empire and the Greek cities has also been described as a "clash of cultures" and the first real "World War". The 25 century anniversary since the battle, which took place in 490 B.C. will be in two years time, in the year 2010.

Another interesting aspect of the battle discovered during the three years of research and preparation that preceded the formation of the international committee was its date, as calculated by astronomers of the British Royal Family. According to their findings, the battle itself took place on September 11 in 490 BC.

Caption: An aspect of the Tumulus of Marathon, which was erected over the burial site of 192 ancient Athenians who fell at the Battle of Marathon against the Persians in 490 BC. Marathon was the site where the Persians under Darius landed troops in 490 BC. Under the leadership of Miltiades, the Athenians, though vastly outnumbered, forced the Persians to retreat. Instead of being buried in Athens, the fallen Athenian warriors received a hero's burial at the field of the battle where a nine-metre-high and 50-metre-wide tomb was erected. ANA-MPA / P. AIVALIS.

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